Bacterial Imbalance May Explain Honeybee Apocalypse

The New York Times has added its reportorial two cents to the mysterious disappearance of up to a quarter of the nation’s honeybees — a disturbing phenomenon, both for its sign-of-the-apocalypse vibe and the practical threat to U.S. agriculture, which relies on bees to pollinate crops.

In the article we featured previously, monocultural farming practices, pesticides, poor nutrition, invasive insect species and genetically modified crops were all cited as possible culprits. Also of note was one scientist who believes the bees to be "rife with disease," calling it an "immune suppression," the "AIDS of bees."

The New York Times adds to this:

Genetic testing at Columbia University has revealed the presence of multiple micro-organisms in bees from hives or colonies that are in decline, suggesting that something is weakening their immune system. The researchers have found some fungi in the affected bees that are found in humans whose immune systems have been suppressed by the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or cancer.

I’m currently finishing up an article on the underappreciated role of bacteria in maintaining our health and physiology — an underappreciation that, as we learn more about the importance of bacteria and the profoundly disruptive impact of modern life upon it, could be very dangerous. That bacterial imbalance is destroying the bees is just one theory among many; it could be wrong, and it is likely that more than one theory is right, but it seems plausible.